Gakuen Babysitters Episode 1 (First Impression)

Feel good show #2. Oh my goodness I love this show already. Warm and sweet shows seem to be dominating this season and I’m not complaining one bit. It’s funny, because I’m not too crazy about kids in real life. I don’t hate them or anything, in fact I really love babies. They’re so small and innocent and adorable, and minus nasty diapers, babies are sweet little things. But for me once they reach a certain age, maybe…past five years old, the age when kids can talk back and be little brats, I can’t really stand them anymore. Maybe because I’ve seen too many parents who ignore their kids as they throw tantrums while face down on the dirty floor, creating a whole scene that annoys everyone and makes me want to punch the negligent parent. Maybe it’s not totally the kid’s fault, but…eh. I can handle babies, kids not so much.

So Gakuen Babysitters is right up my alley! These little kiddies are cute as fuck, and Saikawa in the next episode preview was basically me. The story is really simple. We have our main character, Ryuichi Kashima, with his little brother Kotaro as they are now orphans after their parents died in an airplane crash. They’re being taken in by the chairwoman of an academy, whose son and daughter-in-law died in the same crash. In return for taking them in, she wants Ryuichi to help out in the school’s Babysitter Club as they’re short staffed. He agrees, and that’s basically it. The rest of this episode, and I’m guessing of this season, will be Ryuichi and the other helpers in the club having fun taking care of the children in the daycare. Ryuichi’s first day was hectic but it went pretty well as he’s very experienced in taking care of babies, as he’s always taken care of his little brother because his parents had always been out of the house. This show is absolutely charming and sweet, making me smile and giggle the entire time. I always enjoyed anime about little kids and parenting because we simply don’t see enough anime about them. Parents are usually nonexistent in anime, and little kids are ignored. Just seeing a show about normal kids in a normal environment is just so nice. Also, I love shows with a strong sense of family because of the same reasons. Especially in this case, as family for our main characters means something completely different to them now.

All the characters so far are great, each with their own personalities. Kotaro is a sleepy kid, Taka is the loud boisterous boy, Kirin is a sweet little girl, Takuma is the energetic twin, and Kazuma is the twin that’s always nervous and on the verge of crying :(. And the baby…is a baby. Ryuichi is a responsible boy and is great with kids, so is Yoshihito, even if he’s a little lazy. Kamitani is a good dude as well, and while the chairwoman is a little harsh, she’s kind as well. It was fun watching the kids play around and Ryuichi dealing with them. Maybe one thing I would have liked from the children was if they were voiced by children. The authenticity and extra charm Barakamon and Amaama to Inazuma had was the main children characters being voice acted by actual children. It showed that the people behind the animes went the extra step to make their show more authentic, which I really enjoyed. But in this case, all the kids are being played by adults. They’re not doing a bad job, they actually sound really good, but I just wish they actually brought in kids. But this isn’t a big deal to me.

The episode was sweet and fun, but we were kicked with some emotions as Ryuichi was finally able to let out his emotions towards his parents’ death. As a middle schooler having to care for his toddler brother, and also having to care for other children, he holds a lot of responsibility while also having to confront his feelings about his now deceased parents. It’s really sad, that right when Kotaro got a fever, the first thing he did was try to call his dad like any other kid his age would do. But now he needs to hold all this responsibility and take things on himself. It’s actually really scary. The chairwoman coming to comfort him was especially sweet, showing us that she’s not that mean.

I adore this show already and I’m sure anyone that would give the first episode a chance would too. Even if you don’t particularly like kids it’s still such a nice and wholesome watch. And if you liked shows like Barakamon, Amaama to Inazuma, or Hanamaru Kindergarten (which is more similar to this) then you’ll absolutely love this. It’s fun, funny, sweet, warm, and cute. And the little kiddies are chubby and tiny and adorable. <3